MAMCO will begin a new chapter in its history when the building it occupies goes into renovation. This exciting development project—the biggest in the museum’s history—is scheduled to start in 2025 and will last for at least three years. Before the renovation work begins, however, we will put on one last exhibition curated by all of you: visitors, members of the Friends Association, members of the museum boards, partners, and other interested parties. Perhaps you found an installation especially striking or harbor fond memories of a specific exhibition. Or maybe you want another chance to see a special piece or to reflect again on the work of a particular artist. If you have a favorite in mind, please let us know: the museum’s entire collection is fair game for this exhibition.
The MAMCO collection has changed beyond recognition since 2016. Today, it contains more than 6,000 pieces, divided into several solo and group sub-collections. While Minimal and Conceptual art remain the basis of the collection, works from other geographies, cultures, and eras have been added in recent times. Our Concrete Poetry room—initially based on the collection acquired from Steven Leiber—has been considerably expanded in the past few years. That’s also true of our collection of works by artists associated with the Fluxus movement, which also incorporates the Ecart Archives. The 1980s are represented through creations by members of the “Pictures Generation,” as well as by artists associated with the “Neo-Geo” and “Institutional Critique” movements. Moving forward in time, the collection includes a body of works attesting to the “Relational Aesthetics” trend of the 1990s, while pieces by US artists from the early 2000s bear witness to the impact of digital technology on image production and distribution practices. Meanwhile, some of our recent acquisitions touch on new and emerging issues in contemporary art such as gender, identity, and cultural diversity, the revival of figurative and expressive art, and the geopolitical implications of the modern global age.
To submit a request, you can use the form on our website (Collection). Alternatively, you can write to us at participation@mamco.ch or get in touch via social media (mamco__geneve on Instagram).The bulk of the collection can be viewed on the museum’s website, although the online catalogue omits works by some artists owing to a lack of high-quality images. To fill that gap, a list of artists is added to the form, so their works can be requested for inclusion in the exhibition. Likewise, the online catalogue excludes the vast majority of publications, documents, and limited editions. However, if you recall a particular object you would like to see in the exhibition, please send us details and we’ll do our best to locate it.
MAMCO is home to the largest collections of works by artists such as Siah Armajani, John M Armleder, Collection Yoon-ja & Paul Devautour, Noël Dolla, Guy de Cointet, Sylvie Fleury, Marcia Hafif, Julije Knifer, Silvia Kolbowski, Olivier Mosset, Steven Parrino, Mai-Thu Perret, Présence Panchounette, Royden Rabinowitch, Sarkis, Philippe Thomas (and his agency, readymades belong to everyone©), and Franz Erhard Walther.
The collection also includes substantial bodies of work by Vito Acconci, Francis Baudevin, Marion Baruch, Walead Beshty, Etienne Bossut, Nina Childress, Natalie Czech, Peter Downsbrough, Robert Filliou, Christian Floquet, Vidya Gastaldon and Jean-Michel Wicker, General Idea, Guerrilla Girls, Fabrice Gygi, Thomas Huber, IFP, On Kawara, Piotr Kowalski, Mike Lash, Louise Lawler, Renée Levi, Verena Loewensberg, Christian Marclay, John Miller, Anita Molinero, Maurizio Nannucci, Richard Nonas, Amy O’Neill, Roman Opalka, Dennis Oppenheim, Nam June Paik, Claudio Parmiggiani, Carmen Perrin, Bernard Piffaretti, Vaclav Pozarek, Arnulf Rainer, Christian Robert-Tissot, Denis Savary, Julia Scher, Jim Shaw, Anselm Stalder, Tatiana Trouvé, Hannah Villiger, Patrick Weidmann, Moo Chew Wong, and Heimo Zobernig, as well as important pieces by Adel Abdessemed, Helen Frankenthaler, Bertrand Lavier, William Leavitt, Gordon Matta-Clark, Robert Morris, Martial Raysse, George Segal, Avery Singer, Frank Stella, and Xavier Veilhan.
Our team of curators, led by Julien Fronsacq, will arrange the requested works throughout the museum, which will be devoted entirely to this special exhibition. It might not be possible to include all the requested works in the exhibition, as space is naturally limited. Also, some may be on loan elsewhere or undergoing restoration. In these cases, our curators will decide which items to exclude, or select replacements for pieces that are unavailable.
And since next year marks our 30th anniversary, MAMCO will be offering free admission to the exhibition and running a series of public activities and events.
- Exhibition coordinated by Julien Fronsacq
